Thread-parter for automatic weft-replenishing looms.



J. F. MARSHALL & C. E. KNOWLTON. THREAD PARTER FOR AUTOMATJC WEFT REPI ENISHING LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED 'MAR. I2. 1917 Patented Jan. 14,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI I.

J. F. MARSHALL & C. E. KNOWLTON.

THREAD PAR TER FOR AUTOMATIC WEFT REPLENISHING LO'OMS. APPLICATION FILED III'AR. I2. I917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- M44460 v 3151 J album, MA

Patented Jan.14,1919.

' UNIT earns UEEEEQE.

a- MAns'HAnL, or wnIrmsvILLn, an]: cnAnLEs fi KNoiflLToN, or NORTH emr'ron, MAss'AcEUsnT'Ts,nssrenons, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T DRAPER COR]?ORA'JZION', 0F HOPEDAIIE, MASSACHUSETTSQA CORPORATION OF MAINE.

- Specification rate-S Patent.

:THBEAD-PARTER non AUTOMATIC wErr-RnPLEnIsHIne ooms.

Patented Janie, 1919.

- a ncaath'meanmii12,1917, Serial no. 154,107.

" Tb an 'wlwmit mag/concern -and CHARLES .E; KNowL'i'oN, United States Be it known that we, J AMEs F. MARSHALL citizens, residing at Whitinsville, Massachusetts, and North Grafton,.Massachusetts, re-

gspeetively, have invented the following-described Improvements in- Thread- Parters for v Automatic Weft-Replenishing Looms. Y

The invention relates to automatic looms in which the shuttle or bobbin. when e hausted,.or nearly exhausted, of weft 1's vautomatically substituted by a fresh I one,

andconsists in an improved and simplified means for disposing of'the spent-weft which is left extending from the selvage of the cloth to the-exhausted bobbin at the moment 'of. substitution. This threadmust be out in order that it may not become tangled with the fresh weft, or woven into the cloth,

and it is desirable, and also customary,-- to vout it at two places, one near the shuttle and the other close to the selvageof the cloth, sothat no dangling end Wlll remain on the cloth requiring subsequent trimming. The parting mechanism herein disclosed, while bein operated in general, by the same loom meni) eral relation as heretofore, differs from ers and in substantially the same. genrevious arrangements for the same purpose in that while it is positive in act1on,'1t.

"yields to the pull of the weft and holdsthe weft taut and out of the way of the fresh weft while the loom-continues in operation" sothat the weft thus held may be again out at a point close tothe selvage and the severed end safely disposed'of. The second cut is thus performed on a thread which is taut and in proper pos tion instead of slacK,

- 1 and is thereby rendered more certain and 40' reliable as will be perfectly apparent from the following description and the drawings.

As in the prior mechanisms, the means which make the first outand clamp the cut end of the weft are mounted on or form part of the shuttle feeler and inasmuch as this member and itsfvarious relations-to the other parts on the loom are thoroughly understood in the art, the drawings herein are confined to .an illustration of only those parts of the loom which directly cooperate with the invention. I

Figure 1 shows the feeler and thread parting mechanism in elevation as appearing in a cross-section of the loom at about the lo-.

ing jaws;

Fig. a an elevation of the same parts as viewed from the rear of the loom;

d Fig. 5 the same, as viewed from the'front of the loom; and

Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective-views, the former illiistrating the relation ofthe parts at the moment of making thefii st out, close to the bobbin, and the latter showing the return of the clamp and the tightened length of weft lying against thetemple cutter ready to be out thereby.

The arm 1 is swung on its horizontal pivot I by its hnk connection with the so-called actuating shaft 2 which is operated when the weft of the working bobbin has become depleted to a predetermined extent audachange is to be called. The arm 1 swings from its normal forward position near the breast beam, as indicated in the full lines in Fig. l, to a position toward the rear of the,"

loom as shown in the dotted linesinthe' If its head structure, which 7111' be. presently described, finds. a clear-"x f 5.

same figure.

space above the lay 3 .and at the entrance to the shuttle box 4, at the replenishing side of the loom, (which fact indicates that the shuttle is properly boxed therein.) other cone neetions are rendered active or permitted toactto expel the spent bobbin or the shuttle as the case may be and replace it.-by another, all of this action being according to the usual yclein automatic looms of this class as will be readilv understood. The said head structure which thus serves as the nose for the shuttle feeler armromprises the thread cuttingand .thread clamping'; members of thepresent invention which; are,

in the proper'po'sition to" engage with the "thread of the bobbin to be aban doned im'i ,medlately on-their arrival in the s'pacejfin front of the shuttle boxentrance. This shuttle feeler arm with the thread cutter;-

and thread clamp is located between the mouth of the shuttle box at the. replenishing side of the loom and the adjacentv selyage its of the cloth so that the cutter and clamp act upon the spent weft between .the shuttle in said box and the cloth. cutting the thread and holding the cut end of the thread are, in the present case, performed by separate pairs of blades orjaws although a single pair could serve both functions if necessary and as will be presently made apparent. The cutting jaws are nearest theshuttle box and one jaw is formed by the upper integral end 5 of the lever 1, the rearward extremity of which'is fishtailed with a flaring notch to guide'the thread to the position to be cut. jaw is a knife blade 6 hinged on the pivot stud 7 in the jaw 5 and held up snugly to the side face of that jaw by the spring 8 acting on it through the pivot. The knife blade has its cutting edge 9 on its upper side co-acting as a shear with the lower edge of the upper branch of the jaw 5 and as indicated in Fig. 3. The knife blade also carries an operating stud 10 projecting laterally from its shuttle box side. The clamp jaws 11 and 12 are disposed on the cloth side of the cutter jaws and mounted on a short bracket 13 projecting from the lever 1, the jaw 11 being hinged to the upright stud 14 on that bracket and its co-acting jaw 12 being pivoted to the jaw 11 by a pivot stud 15 which is combined with a spring 16 as in the case of the shear blade 6. whereby it is held yieldingly in contact with the side face of jaw 11. The proximate edges of these jaws as thus pivoted are dulled so that a thread caught between them will be pinched and held rather than cut. A coil spring 17 concealed within the hub part of the jaw 11 tends to swing both jaws to the position indicated in Fig. (3 or the dotted lines in Fig. 2 and in such position a slot 18 in the end of the clamp jaw 12 is engaged by a stud 19 laterally projecting from the cloth side of the knife blade 6 so that operation of the knife blade. as by means of its lateral stud 10. will produce simultaneous operation of the clamp jaws 11 and 12. The

stud 19 is desirably made of suflicient length to retain control of the clamp jaws in any position to which they may be laterally swung on their pivot 14. r

The jaws open in advancing to the dotted line position of Fig. 1 (dropping the piece of weft last out during the movement). There they Wait for the advancing lay to carry the thread to be cut between the jaws and in this position the operating stud 1.0 is brought directly beneath one arm of a bell-crank lever 20. the other arm of which is arranged so as to be struck by the cam nose 21 of a lever 22 on the-transferrer 23 when that member is rocked to make the transfer of bobbin. The bell-crank is thereby caused to strike the operating stud 10 and both jaws are thereby closed, the thread The functions of The other is cut and the cut end which is still attached to the cloth is firmly held by the clamp aws.

Fig. 6 shows the parts at the instant before thecam'21 swings thebell crank to close the jaws. The bell-crank has a spring24 which restores it after operation but thesprings 8-and 16, by their friction, retain ment takes place against the tension of the spring 17 which can be made fairly heavy without danger of breaking the thread. but needs only to be stifl enough to take up the slack in the weft and draw it taut against the temple cutter 25 so that the latter may be operated in the usual way to cut'it. When thus cut the spring 17 will restore the clamp jaws to their normal position adjacent. to the cutter jaws and thev will still retain the severed end of thread. The latter may be removed by hand or automatically or it may be allowed to stay in the clamp jaws until the latter are again opened whereupon it will drop to the floor.

The opening of the jaws is done by a switch plate 26 pivoted at 27 upon a bracket so as to ride over the stud 10 in its returning movement but to engage the underside of the stud on its advancing movement and thereby force it upward which thus opens the jaws before they reach the rearward position. Fig. 3 illustrates the relation of the switch plate to the stud at the end of the jaw opening movement.

From the foregoing description it will be observed that the objects of the invention are accomplished by the lateral yielding of the holding member or members 'to the pull of the thread during the receding or returning movement, and by the spring 17 which acts on the thread to draw it taut, but which does not however strain it to the breaking point. The spring or the provisions permitting the lateral yielding, or the equivalent of either of them, may obviously be applied with the same eifect to specifically different kinds of clamping jaws, suchfor example, as those which cut and clamp in a single pair of jaws, and they may obviously be used with or without the temple cutter as desired or any other suitable means of trimming off the selvage of the cloth may be used, and it will of course be appar- (int that the operation of the principle above explained is not dependent upon any particular kind or location of the parting or replenishing side of shearing jaws 5 and.6, nor is the invention limited to the kind shown except as set forth in the following claims.

Claims:

1. In a replenishing loom, between the cloth and the shuttle box at the replenishing side of the loom for holding the cut spent weft end mounted for relative approach to the entrance to the shuttle box and adapted to yield to and be moved by the pull of said weft.

2. In a replenishing loom, means located between the cloth and the shuttle-box at the the loom for holding the cut end of the spent weft, mounted to approach the entrance to the shuttle box and having means adapting it to yield to and be moved by the pull of the cut weft on its return movement.

3. In a replenishing loom, thread parting and holding mechanism mounted to approach and recede from the shuttle box entrance and including a spring adapted to keep the weft taut without breaking it during the return movement of said media-- msm.

4. In an automatic replenishing loom, a

shuttle feeler arm, a head structure thereon adapted to approach the lay and including means for holding the end of the cut weft, said means being free to yield toward the cloth under and be moved by the pull of the weft. In an automatic replenishing loom, a shuttle feeler arm, a head structure thereon adapted to approach the lay and cut the weft and including means for holding the cut end of the weft, said means being free to yield toward the cloth under and be moved by the pull of the weft.

G. In an automatic replenishing loom, a shuttle feeler, a head structure thereon including a thread clamp and a spring supporting said clamp and permitting it to yield laterally to the pull of the thread clamped thereby.

7. In an automatic replenishing loom having a temple cutter,

means located a. shuttle feeler, a head i structure thereon including a thread clamp adapted to draw said thread into the temple cutter and a spring acting on the clamp to tauten the thread.

8. In. an automatic replenishing loom, means for cutting and holding the weft of an abandoned bobbin, comprising a Weft cutter and a thread clamp which is moved laterally by the pull of the weft clamped thereby.

9. In an automatic replenishing loom having a temple cutter, a thread clamp adapted to draw said thread into the temple cutter and movable toward the selvage of the cloth ing movement and means for conjointly opcrating said jaws and closing them on the thread.

11. In automatic replenishing looms, thread parting and holding mechanism including a pair of parting jaws mounted on a support, an adjacent pair of clamping jaws piv0t ally carried on said sup ort and adapted to swing laterally under the pull of the thread clamped thereby.

12. In automatic replenishing looms, thread parting andholding mechanism comprising two pairs of jaws one being laterally yielding to the pull of the thread. and a single means whereby said jaws are closed upon -.he thread.

13. In an automatic replenishing loom,

thread cutting and holding jaws mounted to approach the shuttle entrance, a transferrer and means whereby it closes said aws -on the thread, in combination with means permitting lateral yielding of the part hold ing the cut thread as the said jaws recede from the shuttle box entrance.

In testimony whereof, we have signed this specification.

JAMES F. MARSHALL. CHARLES E. KNOWLTON. 

